Climbing to the Clouds

1. Spend six months building a brick wall of denial. Watch it eventually collapse. Bury yourself in the debris.

2. Spend another six months rotting at rock bottom, drowning yourself in insecurities and beliefs that you are worthless.

3. Try to claw your way out and end up bleeding out again, collapsed lungs and skin flecked with shattered glass.

4. Whatever you do, do not throw yourself off the cliff face. Whatever you do, do not give up.

5. Shed your bruised skin and pick yourself up off the ground.

6. Burn the letters and the hiding places and the memories. Burn it all down and start anew.

7. Wait for thoughts of them to evaporate, notice how much lighter your shoulders become when the air no longer tastes like their absence.

8. Climb your way to the clouds. Realise that without them, you can fly.